Get Ready, It's a Big One!

I had big plans of blogging each day that Nate and Jamie were here so that this didn't happen. As you can see, I didn't succeed with those plans. So, here goes, the rest of Nate and Jamie's visit!

On Saturday we headed down to Galveston to go to the beach! Of course, Addie needed a nap as soon as we got there and I didn't think she would take one in the blistering hot weather. Addie surprised me and slept like a champ on a blanket under the umbrella.

Bathing Beauty

While she slept, everyone played in the nice warm water... gotta love the gulf. Once the munchkin was up, she was ready to play! She did great with her first trip to the beach. At first, she wasn't quite sure about the waves. They were a little scary. She got used to them and liked them, if she was being held tightly.


Our next water adventure was Discovery Green downtown. As you may have noticed, you don't do anything in Houston in the summer unless it's inside or in water. In the middle of downtown, right next to where the Astros and the Rockets play is an awesome park with fountains.

"I'm not so sure about this..."

It was so hot, that Jamie and I even got in on the fun with all of the 6 and 7 year olds. We got drenched with all of our clothes on and it felt so good!
Then it was off to the pool!

Addie cheesing it with Aunt Jamie

Last, but certainly not least, was the Children's Museum.

Amazing.

I had fun as an adult! If you ever come to Houston, you have to come here! We were busy for hours. We went while Scott was at work, but it was so much fun, that we went home to eat and grab Scott, then went back for a couple more hours.



Again, Addie surprised us by actually realizing what was going on around her. There's a place just for little kids and she had a blast. She drove Nate around the block. We set her in the seat and she acted like she was a seasoned driver. She took the wheel, stood up with no help and started turning that wheel like she knew what she was doing.

Adorable!

"Hey, check out that good lookin' girl!"

Personal Ball Pit= Very Happy Baby

We had so much fun with Nate and Jamie. We had a jam packed few days, and got a ton of fun things in. Thanks for coming to visit us!

NASA

Scott's little sister, Jamie, and little brother, Nate, have come to town! We are so excited to have them visiting us. Since it's definitely not every day we get visitors, we decided to go and do all the fun things in Houston that we haven't really gotten around to doing yet. The schedule is pretty packed and we're hoping Addie can handle everything. Up first, the Houston Space Center!

Awesome. We loved this place. Really, there's not too much to say about it, just a bunch of pictures to show!

This was a climbing wall game where the grips would light up and you had to touch them as fast as you could. You had to touch as many lit up grips in one minute as you could. I wish I could say we only did this once and walked away, but, in fact, we spent quite a bit of time here. We turned it into a competition, boys against girls. Jamie and I went first and we were smokin' fast. We got a high score for the day with 33. Then Scott and Nate went, and we thought we were done for because they were also smokin' fast. Turned out, they got 33 as well. I guess the tie keeps the peace in the house:)

Future Astronaut Jamie

Nate working on the moon in zero gravity conditions

Addie and Dad walking on the moon

Just landing a space shuttle, no big deal.

Addie was a champ while we were there, hopefully she can hang on for everything else to come!

Happy Father's Day

I know I'm a little late, but my motto since Addie's been born is, "Better late than never!"

I have an amazing Dad. I know everyone says this, but really, I do. He is the most patient man. When I'm upset about something, he is able to put everything into perspective. He has such a calming effect on tense situations.

On the flip side, he is the biggest tease in the world. My mom jokes that she'll never be done raising kids, because she'll always have my dad around. He loves getting scary masks and coming home to scare my mom with them.

He is the hardest working man that I know. He wakes up around 2 every morning to go to work. When I was little and I would hear him get up to get ready for work, I would get up and have a bowl of Crispix with him.

My dad has taught me so much about living the gospel purely be example. He's pretty quiet and will never force his opinion on anyone. You can tell he knows the gospel is true by the way he lives. I have never seen my dad miss a month of home teaching. He is so dilligent in his church callings. He will help anyone in need in anyway that he can. We always joke that if anything ever happened to my mom, all the widows in the ward would jump at the chance to snatch him up because he helps them so much.

Thanks for everything Dad, I love you!

Then, there's my amazing Father in law. I love being apart of the Ellsworth Family. Since day one, Harold has made me feel so welcome into their family. Something I really appreciate about him is that he doesn't just make me feel welcome by his actions, but every so often he'll tell me that he loves having me in the family.

Harold is, hands down, the friendliest person I have ever met. He will make friends while filling up with gas, going on a hike or at the checkout register.

Harold also has an amazing testimony of the gospel. He converted to the church as a young college student. Quite often, I think about how grateful I am that he was so in tune with the spirit to get baptized. I can't imagine how different my life would be if he hadn't joined the church. That one decision that he made, has touched the lives of so many people around him and I am so grateful for his wonderful example of obedience to the gospel.

Scott is such a Daddy's boy. He looks up to his Dad so much. Scott's mom told me that when Scott was little he would always wait for his dad to get home to eat dinner. Sometimes Harold wouldn't get home from work until past dinner, and Scott refused to eat his dinner until his dad got home and they would eat together.

I am so grateful for such an amazing father in law. He has taught Scott so much and has taught Scott how to be a great husband and dad!
Last, but certainly not least, is my man! Boy, do I love this guy! This was his first Father's Day.

When we got married, I knew I'd found a great guy that I loved dearly, but I didn't realize truly what a catch I had! Thank goodness, I didn't let him get away. As time in our marriage goes on, I find that we are more perfectly matched to one another than I ever could have imagined.

Scott is an amazing Dad! If it weren't for him, Addie and I both wouldn't have made it through the first 3 months of her life. He juggled medical school, with no sleep, and a crazy hormonal wife.

He is so patient with Addie and I. When I've had a rough day and Addie's been grouchy, Scott will rush home to take the munchkin. On these days, it seems he's always able to get her to laugh and smile and get back to her usual happy self.

I think this may be my longest post ever, and it could keep getting longer, but I'll stop.

Suffice it to say, I have some amazing men in my life. I am so blessed and I love each of them!

More From Utah

We made it home after a great trip to Utah to visit family!

We were busy doing all sorts of stuff like swimming with fellow red-head, Aunt Sadie.

Getting a Shoulder Ride

Watching Sadie pitch a great softball game!

Eating our favorite all you can eat french toast breakfast at Magleby's Fresh

Hangin' out with Grandpa Clark and Gracie (who was named after Addie, who's middle name is Grace)

And eating at Ruby River. Addie was entertained by playing with the coaster the entire time we were there.

We loved going walking with Grandma every morning and just hanging out. We also got to see the Ellsworth's, but apparently I forgot to take a single picture of that. It was fun to see how Addie came to know her grandparents and aunts and uncles over the course of the week. We're excited to come back in August so she can get to know them even more. Thanks mom and dad for letting us come and see you!

A Pick Me Up

I think that anyone who is a mom will understand when I say that sometimes you just need a little pick me up. I love being Addie's mom, but it can be really frustrating and exhausting at times. It's at these times that I'll go blog searching... I know, kind of embarrassing. But, there are so many amazing blogs written by fellow moms going through the same thing. Anyway, long story short, I found this and loved it. It was just what I needed to deal with my non-napping baby:)

Over the River and Through the Woods

To Grandmother's house we went! Today Addie and I got on an airplane to visit family in Utah. I was going to blog about this trip when we got home, but I took these pictures on the plane and had to post them so Scott could see his little sweetie!

I was super lucky and get an empty seat next to me. It's amazing how nice the airline workers are when you're alone and have a baby! This meant that Addie had her own seat the whole time, and she actually sat/laid on it the entire time (except take off and landing).

She was an angel on the flight. Didn't even cry once. As you can see, she was one happy camper.

Almost a little too happy... here she is flying out of her seat.

Finally we made it to see Grandma Clark and Aunt Sadie!

Family Pictures

Last weekend we went up to Old Town Spring to have our great friend Nicole take some family pictures for us. It was quite the drive and we are so grateful to Nicole for being willing to do these for us. She does amazing work! Check out her photo blog here.

Old Town Spring was such a neat place! There were the most colorful shops.

*Note: You are not allowed to judge my hair. The weather was truly 267 degrees and we couldn't keep the sweating under control*

This was Scott's favorite store. He wanted to buy all the french fry dipping sauces.